ED Seeks FIR Against PCA Over Alleged Irregularities in Land Purchases

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has formally requested that the Punjab Police register an FIR regarding land acquisition deals executed by the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA). The federal agency, which reviewed multiple sale deeds and subsequent mutations, alleges that the association engaged in “massive financial irregularities” while purchasing land for a proposed sports facility. According to the ED, prima facie evidence suggests that criminal conspiracy and cheating, as defined under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, were committed during these transactions.The investigation centers on a series of land deals in Bhalla village, Amritsar. Records indicate that between August and November 2025, two real-estate developers—AGM Heights Pvt. Ltd. and Future Homes—acquired agricultural land from local farmers at approximately Rs 15 lakh per acre. In February 2026, the PCA purchased 19.5 acres from these same entities for a total of Rs 58.22 crore, which translates to nearly Rs 3 crore per acre. This represented a valuation jump of nearly 20-fold in just a few months. Notably, subsequent land transactions between these same developers in the same village, recorded in July 2026, were valued at only Rs 31 lakh to Rs 33 lakh per acre.The ED's findings were communicated to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of SAS Nagar (Mohali), Varun Sharma, in a letter dated October 12. The agency explicitly stated that the information was being shared under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The probe suggests that shell companies were used to facilitate the transfer of funds and that the PCA misused society funds under the guise of paying heavily inflated rates for land.In addition to the Amritsar deals, the investigation scrutinized land purchases in Bathinda. The ED reported that the PCA acquired 100 kanals and 10 marlas of land from an individual for nearly Rs 19.77 crore. Official data from the local Sub-Registrar indicated that the government collector rate for that area was Rs 5.02 lakh per kanal, meaning the PCA paid roughly 3.93 times the collector rate. This was noted as the highest recorded transaction rate in the vicinity during that period.The sequence of events leading to the acquisition has raised significant questions regarding the timeline. On August 2, 2025, the PCA apex committee held a meeting to discuss purchasing land for a new stadium. Shortly thereafter, the designated developers began acquiring land from farmers, and by February 2026, the association finalized the purchase. The ED noted that bank account scrutiny revealed that the seller entities transferred large sums of money to their partners almost immediately after receiving payments from the PCA.The controversy gained further momentum after former first-class Ranji cricketer Rakesh Handa approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, alleging irregularities within the PCA management's procurement process. Additionally, the details of the transactions were previously brought into the public domain through inquiries made under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by activist Rajiv Vashisth. As the investigation progresses, the focus remains on the roles of the private firms involved and the internal decision-making processes of the PCA that allowed for such substantial financial outflows.